Should we remove compressed GIF generation from Squeak 3.7?

Ned Konz ned at squeakland.org
Sat Feb 21 21:17:02 UTC 2004


On Friday 20 February 2004 2:00 am, Trygve Reenskaug wrote:
> I disagree. "PNG writing is working quite well" just isn't good enough when
> I need some result by a deadline. Give us both formats until we have more
> experience.

Sure. I wasn't proposing that we change with no overlap.

> If you put the GIF stuff on SM: How long will it remain compatible with the
> main release?

That depends on how well it is maintained, right?

> GIF generation is the only reliable way I have found to get stuff out of
> Squeak and into e.g. PowerPoint and FrameMaker. This is essential since I
> want to use Squeak for talks and experiments, and need PP for handouts and
> FrameMaker for books and articles.

I am not proposing that we get rid of GIFs, only that we get rid of the 
patent-encumbered LZW compression in GIF writing, and instead write only 
uncompressed GIFs.

> The 'print PS to file' in the World menu is erratic at best.

Even with my fixes? What needs improvement?

> I would suggest that the World menu should include a reliable export
> facility. E.g. export (gif/eps/png) and then we could work together to get
> all of them into a consistently reliable state.

You can get to this via the red halo menu. In my Connectors package, I've 
found it useful to have an export submenu for the World that ignores things 
like flaps and SystemWindows.

-- 
Ned Konz
http://bike-nomad.com/squeak/



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